


Have a Lie-Down, You Look Like You Need It

by sharkinfishnets



Category: Disco Elysium (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:22:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22137766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkinfishnets/pseuds/sharkinfishnets
Summary: A moment of respite, though it cannot last forever. The show must go on.
Relationships: Harry Du Bois/Kim Kitsuragi
Comments: 3
Kudos: 43





	Have a Lie-Down, You Look Like You Need It

The destroyed remains of the island fortress still stand, jutting out of the water like broken teeth, an omnipresent reminder that one cannot escape the past, no matter how much they try to turn it to dust with artillery fire or alcohol. To those throughout Revachol, the island is nearly always visible, and when it isn’t, its absence is all the more conspicuous. To Harry Du Bois and Kim Kitsuragi, the island is their destination. Home of vantage point “B-double-prime”, and the likely hiding place of the murderer they have been chasing for the past week. The small fishing boat, borrowed from the village, drifts across the placid water. The sound of Sad FM’s plaintive rock music drifts in the air around them. It’s pretty good, but not very disco. It will all be over soon.  
The inside of the fortress is just as destroyed as the outside, but someone has made a home here, and nestled tightly among the cracked concrete and dilapidated machinery lies a mattress, and magazines, and clothes. All evidence of someone’s life amidst the ruins of a revolution. The last dregs of daylight seep in through the high window, barely more than a slit in the wall, and Harry Du Bois feels exhausted. All the events of the past week, all the endless lists of questions, all the running circles around Martinaise, all the picking up the bits and pieces of his broken memory, all of it has led them here. It also led to getting shot not once, but twice. This exhaustion is likely more physical than mental, but the mental weight of the case certainly isn’t helping any. Kim glances over and can see these facts written plain as day in the lines of Harry Du Bois’s face. Not that he’s trying to hide it.  
“Detective, I think you should lie down for a while. You look like you need the rest, and you’ve been running around all day, even with your injuries,” Kim intones, “I can keep watch”. Harry looks at the vacant bed, tucked neatly against the plain concrete wall. He does need the rest. Kim is right, and has the Authority to back it up, so why not? Well, because sleep does not come easily to him, and when it does, his dreams are worse than his waking life. Those are some pretty solid reasons. But Harry Du Bois lies down anyways. Because fuck it. Better now, when Kim is there to watch over him than when he’s all alone in his room at the Whirling.  
The mattress is old and uncomfortable, and the bedding smells of sweat and machine oil, but it’s better than nothing. He’s curled up, facing the wall, eyes closed, hoping beyond hope that he will pass into an uneventful unconsciousness. Then Harry and Kim can get on solving the case, then everything will be alright again. No more being caught between various rocks and hard places, no more waking up to a bathtub full of empty bottles, no more ex-somethings to worry about. But sleep still does not come. Harry Du Bois just lies there with his eyes closed, waiting, as light slowly drains from the little concrete room.   
Just when Harry is about to get up and pretend that he had slept, he feels someone lie down on the free portion of the bed. Their back is lightly pressing against his in an effort not to fall off the bed, which is very clearly not made to hold two full-grown adults at once. It must be Kim, if it were anyone else, he probably would have stopped them, or at least said something. He can feel Kim’s body heat through the layers of shirts and jackets they both have on to stave of the early spring chill, just barely. He can feel the gentle heave of his breaths, an even set of inhales and exhales. It adds up to a tenderness that makes Harry Du Bois’s heart clench like a fist in his chest. How long has it been since he’s had someone next to him like this? He can’t even remember.   
“You don’t need to apologize so much, you know that, right?” Kim Kitsuragi mutters under his breath, not intending for Harry to respond. He still thinks he’s asleep, after all. “You’re doing just fine. Better than either of us could do alone. We’re almost there. It’s almost over.” They lie there for some time, until the room of the sea fortress grows dark, neither daring to move, lest they break the bubble of quiet that had somehow formed around them. No moment like this can last forever though, someone will have to take the first step, and the story will have to move forward. Until then, though, Harry can rest. He can avoid Her for one more day.


End file.
